The Portal gun comes from Valve's Portal series, the first-person puzzle games where players create linked portals to solve test chambers, with the original Portal released in 2007. The gun's electronic firing sound became one of gaming's most recognisable effects, and soundboard users later shared icy, frozen-sounding versions for winter jokes and teleport gags. It sits alongside other short sci-fi weapon sounds such as pew pew in meme edits, and it stays popular because the effect is instantly understood even by viewers who have never played Portal.